PMM Twelve Minute Modelsphere: April 2026

KitMasx Masks And Custom Requests

Kev, tell everyone why you started Kit Mask.

Well, manually masking canopies sucks, and somebody had to step in to save those countless kits from the shelf of doom.

And now we've got over 400 sets and counting. We've got old kits, new kits, forgotten kits, you name it.

Yeah. And if we don't have it, just ask.

Yeah, people don't realize we take custom requests and we even have a service that gets you canopy masks for free.

We do.

Our masks are precision cut, they fit well, they're easy to apply. Kevin cuts and tests every set.

Several times.

Yeah. Precision is kind of his thing.

And Janelle, she does everything else. She cares about each customer and is the heart of our business.

If you ever reach out, you're talking directly to us. Real people, real modelers.

And if you don't love your masks, we'll refund or replace them. No questions asked.

Visit kitmask.com, join the mailing list, and treat yourself to easier, cleaner masking.

Kitmask, made by a modeler for modelers.

Hey, what about me?

You're not a modeler.

Wow, you tired? I yeah. I got tired, but in the happiest kind of tired ways, you know, when you get done with something that that you had and had fun doing the whole time, and then you finally it ends, and you're you're just you didn't realize how much energy you'd spend.

April Plans For AMPS Nationals

Well, that's the lead in is where we where we're going and where we've been. We'll knock out where we're going real quick. It's the month of April. It is the month for the Armor Modeling and Preservation Society's International Convention in South Bend, Indiana, coming up here 16th, 17th, 18th, I believe, of the month.

Yes. Looking forward to it, man. I put in for my vacation days on my paid time off today.

Well, I've done the same, and uh we'll be arriving up there late Thursday afternoon. And uh unfortunately we gotta leave a little early Saturday, but uh we'll have plenty of time to see just about everything we want to see.

Oh, yeah, we're gonna get plenty of time in.

We will. So I don't think we're going anywhere else in April, at least I'm not.

No, I think that's it for April, but we got just tons of stuff coming up, so it's gonna be a full spring, summer, and fall, man.

HeritageCon Travel And Highlights

It is a folks ought to know where we've been. We sure plastered it all over our social media anyway.

Yes, indeed. You and I snuck across the border to manage to go to HeritageCon. And I gotta say, I think we had the best time yet. It was wonderful. We met the Minnesota crew up in Detroit, hit a couple hobby shops, got managed to get across the border without getting apprehended, had a beautiful Airbnb courtesy of the hard work of Chris Wallace, had a lovely dinner at a Chinese buffet, great time. The show was fantastic. Even if Mike didn't win the Moosaroo, which he he richly deserved to win. No, I didn't.

I called it though. I kind of feel he's gonna win this one. So that worked out good for Brian Dinklow, but uh yeah.

Congratulations to Brian Dinklow who built it representing the Build Sideways podcast. So it was wonderful. Man, the number of models was like 960. The quality was through the roof. I managed to spend some money too. That next What Broke Your Wallet segment's gonna be great.

Oh yeah, it should be, and it'll come up in the next episode.

Yes, it will.

Upcoming Episodes And Listener Question

Hopefully they're gonna be some good ones for folks. Yep. First up, episode 161. We're going to do something a little different. It's basically shop talk format, but we did an on-site version of the Wheel of Accidental Wisdom while we're at HeritageCon and we recorded the whole thing. I'm not sure it's usable in its entirety, but certainly have already taken the first pass at editing it. And I know we've got some good segments in there from about three of our fellow modelers who were there with us that we hung out with and get three perspectives on some of the questions. So there's some good ones in there, and I think that'll make a couple of good segments or three for uh a shop talk. And then we got a really broad question from a listener about getting started in the hobby or restarting the hobby kind of from scratch or from a long break. And I think uh uh we can talk about that one pretty good too.

Yes, yep. I think that that one's got a lot of conversation around it.

And then later in the month we got episode 162, and we're gonna be getting some tips and pointers from several different folks on attending shows overseas, not just outside the borders of the United States, like we just did in Canada, because that's not terribly difficult. But actually getting on an airplane and flying to some other continent. So with your models. With your models, maybe, but sometimes yes, with your models. That's gonna be kind of an inter interesting thing. I know we've we've we've talked about foreign shows on the show before and said some things that may or may not have been true, and we've heard back about that. Like if we want to talk about them, maybe we should attend them, but uh that's probably true. But the next best thing is figuring out if you've never been how to get there and what to what to consider and how that's gonna go down. So I think two good episodes for April, Dave.

Yes, I'm looking forward to both of those.

Well, we were away, but the dojo never sleeps.

No, it does not. As of this recording, we have 5,730 members of the dojo. We're adding about between two and four a day, which is kind of nice. And the dojo's hopping. Mike, about a year, god, a year, yeah, maybe a year and a half ago, you and I were riding in a car to a contest or back from some contest. And I'd been looking at the dojo stats, and I was like, you know, if we could consistently get at least 10 new posts a day, that would be great. That would start to build synergy and interest, etc. And now we are up well over 20 posts every single day. And not only posts, but quality posts. I mean, really great work, really great finished models, really great questions. In fact, just before we sat down to record this, I was DMing with a member regarding a question he had posted in the dojo. And it's it's really a great place, A, to kind of hang out, but also to get your questions answered, find out what's going on in the hobby. And man, if you're interested in contests, there are tons of contest flyers being posted in the dojo. Now that the spring season is is fully in force. There are there are contests all over the country. There's bound to be one near you. And I urge you to go to them because Mike and I just got back from one, and man, was that fun.

We can't cover them all in the model show spotlight, so post those flyers and keep people interested.

Yes, yes. If you have a a show that your club is doing, please don't don't hesitate. Post the flyer in the show, post the show information in the dojo. We we're thrilled about that because again, we encourage people to attend shows. It just there's nothing there's nothing better to put spring in your step and mojo back in your modeling.

Well, I want to encourage folks to reach out to the show, and you can do that by sending us listener mail. You can do that by sending us email to plasticmodelmojo at gmail.com or send us a direct messenger through the Facebook Messenger app, or you can use the link in the show notes or at the website at www.plasticmodelmojo.com. Dave, I'm looking forward to this month. We've already had a great show at HeritageCon and just a few weeks after we're gonna hit another one here, and it's gonna be a fun time, man.

Yeah, it is. Well, we were we were at Amps in South Bend two years ago, and I will tell you we had one of the best times we've had at a contest. So I have high hopes for the Amps National this year.

And let's just thank everybody that helped us have a great time at HeritageCon. All the guys from Minnesota. Uh hey, Kevin and Janelle couldn't make it, our sponsors for this short episode from Kit Mass.

But we did our best to represent them and get the information out to people. They had sent us some promotional material and we got to widely distribute that and was more than happy to do so. Uh they're they're great people with a great business.

And the folks at Hamilton did a great job. We enjoyed doing the wheel of accidental wisdom, and the show was just a big blast. So shout out to that team, and we'll promote them again next year because folks, it's a great show.

It is, and man, can it's it's absolutely true. Canadians are some of the nicest people on the planet.

Well, I'm hoping to get to the bench tonight, Dave.

Yep, you and me both.

All right, man. Well, we'll catch you later.

You take it easy.